Institut Charles Sadron Event

The integration of mechanical bonds into polymers expands the scope of chemical architectures for designing advanced materials with novel properties. This thesis explores the use of polyrotaxanes—mechanically interlocked polymers—in two systems. First, polypseudorotaxanes were synthesized by threading rings onto PVC via a clipping approach. Anchoring plasticizers to the rings prevented their migration, a common issue in industrial PVC, while enhancing plasticization efficiency—an effect attributed to the unique dynamic yet robust nature of the mechanical bond. In a second work, a light-driven molecular pump was integrated into polymer chains: a guest polymer threads rings side-functionalized on a host polymer, forming a side-chain polyrotaxane that evolves into a mechanically crosslinked network. This system constitutes the first out-of-equilibrium polyrotaxane-based macromolecular machine capable of performing work and eliciting a macroscopic material response.